PHP: Laravel (Eloquent)

Uses Laravel’s schema builder and Eloquent outside a full application. In a Laravel application the same change is the DB_HOST line in .env; config/database.php stays as it is. The code is the same against the original database and against MachSQL; only the address changes.

The only change

DB_HOST=old-postgres
DB_HOST=machsql-host

Nothing else changes: not the code, not the driver, not its version, not the SQL.

Versions

• PHP 8.5 with pdo_pgsql
• illuminate/database 13.39 (the database layer of Laravel 13)

Run

composer install
export DB_HOST=machsql-host DB_PASSWORD=...
php main.php

Expected output: inserted todo <id>, <n> open.

Source

The program as it is kept and tested in the Mach Database for PostgreSQL repository; highlighted lines read the connection setting.

main.php

<?php
// Laravel's database layer (illuminate/database: query builder, schema builder, Eloquent).
declare(strict_types=1);

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

use App\Todo;
use Illuminate\Database\Capsule\Manager as Capsule;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;

$capsule = new Capsule();
$capsule->addConnection([
    'driver' => 'pgsql',
    'host' => getenv('DB_HOST'), // the only value that changes
    'port' => getenv('DB_PORT') ?: '5432',
    'database' => getenv('DB_DATABASE') ?: 'app',
    'username' => getenv('DB_USERNAME') ?: 'app',
    'password' => getenv('DB_PASSWORD'),
]);
$capsule->setAsGlobal();
$capsule->bootEloquent();

$schema = Capsule::schema();
if (!$schema->hasTable('eloquent_todo')) {
    $schema->create('eloquent_todo', function (Blueprint $table): void {
        $table->id();
        $table->string('title');
        $table->boolean('done')->default(false);
    });
}

$todo = Todo::create(['title' => 'write the examples']);
$open = Todo::where('done', false)->count();
printf("inserted todo %d, %d open\n", $todo->id, $open);

composer.json

{
    "name": "machsql/example-php-laravel",
    "description": "Laravel's database layer (Eloquent) against MachSQL",
    "type": "project",
    "require": {
        "php": "^8.5",
        "illuminate/database": "^13.39"
    },
    "autoload": { "psr-4": { "App\\": "src/" } }
}

src/Todo.php

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

namespace App;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

final class Todo extends Model
{
    protected $table = 'eloquent_todo';
    public $timestamps = false;
    protected $fillable = ['title', 'done'];
    protected $attributes = ['done' => false];
}